Existing comment:
In April 1944, the Secretary of the Navy changed the status of the Training Station to the US Naval Training Center, San Diego. Three subordinate commands were thus established: The Recruit Training Command, the Service School Command, and the Adminstrative Command.
The years following World War II saw reduction in population of the Traning Center despite a post-war expansion of the Service Schools. By the end of 1949 the population of the Center had dropped to 5,800 men. Six months later, when war broke out in Korea, training activities expanded again, and the Center was operating at nearly full capacity.
Several expansion programs followed over the next twenty years. The total area of the center had grown to 550 acres, on which were placed more than 300 buildings covering 3 million square feet of space.
Hundreds of thousands of civilian and military passed through the gates of the naval Training Center in the course of its history. The Navy spent an additional $10 million for base operation support contracts. NTC provided over 2 billion dollars to the local economy over its lifetime.
The end of the Cold War led to military downsizing and the need to close surplus bases. The federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission closed NTC facilities incrementally, with Recruit Training Command closing in 1995, Service School Command in December 1996 and many smaller tenant commands closed or moved during these years. The Navy officially closed NTC on April 30, 1997, and ceased all military operations. |